Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a major global cause of acute illness, infertility, long term disability and death, with severe medical and psychological consequences for millions of men, women and infants. WHO estimated that 340 million new cases of syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis occurred throughout the world in 1999 in men and women aged 15-49 years, and incidence has risen steadily since then.
Trichomonas vaginalis causes vaginitis in women and non-gonococcal, non-chlamydial urethritis in men. Among men, the most recent findings indicate a relationship between seropositivity to T. vaginalis and prostate cancer. This parasite is now the number one, non-viral sexually transmitted disease agent. In 2013, the incidence of this sexually transmitted infection (STI) referred to as trichomonosis or trichomoniasis is estimated to be 10 million women in the United States and 270 to 350 million women worldwide. Health consequences to women include cervical cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, increased HPV and herpes susceptibility, and adverse pregnancy outcomes accompanied with low-birth-weight infants. Significantly, 25% of HIV seroconversions are the direct result of trichomonosis, which is known to increase the portal of exit and entry of HIV infectious viral particles. Therefore, control of trichomonosis may be one of the most effective means of reducing HIV transmission risk and of preventing prostate and cervical cancers worldwide.
It is clear that the public health costs as a result of this STI are enormous, and interference strategies are needed. The most important interference strategy is the availability of rapid, accurate diagnostics with exceptional sensitivity and specificity toward this STI agent. Despite the impact of this STI to public health, fundamental aspects of T. vaginalis cell biology and mechanisms of pathogenesis remain unknown. As previously disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,017,103 B2, α-actinin is expressed by Trichomonas species and can be used to detect the presence of Trichomonas infection. However, the antibodies to parasite proteins available hitherto are inferior in their ability to detect the immunoreactive trichomonad protein antigens.